There is no unowned land in the USA. Why do I bring this up? As a reminder for every prepper with a bugout bag but no prepared location to go to.
This land is your land, this land is my land
We all know the amazing Woody Guthrie song “This Land is Your Land…”, in fact it’s my favorite song about America.
We all know the song… or do we? I’ll put a link to Woody singing this, his most famous tune, before a live audience. If you can sing every word right along with him you win a gold star.
So… did you make it word for word? Chances are, there’s a verse in Woody’s song you didn’t have in your sing-along version of “This Land Is Your Land” in grade school.
My point? Back in the day earlier days of America, the country was much more open. By the time that Woody was touring the country and singing his (very political) songs, the nation was undergoing a property rights evolution that has continued to this day.
Unowned land? Nope, you’ve got the wrong century for that
There is no unowned land in America. All land is either owned by the government, or privately. Now, I’m not even going down the path of allodial title vs fee simple etc., that topic is ENTIRELY beyond the scope of this article.
So… people who are bugging out basically have three choices.
- Bug out to land that they legally own or have the permission of the owner to use
- Hit the road for some publicly owned land
- Bug out to land that they plan to trespass on and hope for the best.
I’ve got to be honest, I can see making option one working the best. If you own the place or have made prior arrangements to use it, then you should be good-to-go at bugout time.
Number two is certainly a legal option, but I personally think it’s a risky one unless you go someplace DEEP and very far away from everybody else.
The problem is, as I have mentioned before, you may be Grizzly Adams, master of the woods, but in truth you are no stronger than the weakest member of you party… your youngest child or frailest adult. Shooting your three-year-old or Aunt Edna because they can’t keep up with the group is NOT a plan.
Option Three may well get you shot on sight if the Stuff has Hit The Fan.
It’s all too easy to forget that land belongs to real people
I recently did an interview with a good friend of mine who owns his family farm, a 400 acre place that’s been in his family for generations.
The entire interview will appear elsewhere here on 3BY, but one of the things we talked about is how landowners feel about trespassers on their land.
“Keep in mind,” he said to me, “people like myself… we are as proud of our farm as a lot of people are of their children or their family, because it has that kind of meaning to a lot of us. Like my farm, it’s been in the family since the 1940’s and we don’t plan on ever letting it go anywhere… it is part of the family. We are proud of it, it may not be the biggest or best but it’s ours.”
“You kind of have that sense of pride in the land ownership that some people just don’t understand,” he continued. “With that, comes the pride in keeping everything clean, well kept, putting up signs for no hunting or trespassing on it without permission.”
“It means a lot more to us than just some piece of land out here in the middle of the country,” he finished.
Bugging out without a destination plan is a really bad idea
Early in the life of Beans, Bullets, Bandages and You, I wrote and article and we did a podcast talking about how strangers will not be welcome in small communities if the stuff totally hits the fan.
I think this is as true as when I first wrote it, if not even more so today, so I advise you to check it out.
So… if I don’t recommend trespassing on anybody else’s land (and I certainly don’t, in a SHTF situation that’s a good way to get you and your family very dead very quickly), and I don’t recommend heading out to public land to live (and I don’t, because millions of others will have this very same idea, leading to “bad things”), I guess that just leave option one.
But, Salty, I can’t afford to buy and build up a bugout location… so… now what?
The Takeaway from this article.
Here’s the takeaway I want to send out with this article.
If you are planning on bugging out… even if that’s your second choice, you will only be bugging out in a DIRE emergency… you’ve got to have a place to go where you are expected.
There are many, many ways you can do this.
For example, make mutual arrangements with other family members, agreeing to take them in if they are in need or them taking you in if it’s you that’s needing to relocate.
Pay attention to logistics. It won’t do you any good if you bug out to their location so that both you and they can starve together.
First, and foremost, however is to prioritize your bugout. It doesn’t matter how good your bugout bag is if you have no place to bugout to.